port 5 axis question

[Robert Ouellette]

I am doing a part on our trunnion table that goes from a circle on outside edge to a slot in middle then back to a circle. I am using port 5 axis to rough and finish it from both side and over lapping by my nose rad. that's was the easy part. the question I have has to do with the roughing button. because of the difference from the bore size and the slot size I have to rough it in 3 passes. when I turn on roughing passes it cuts on the first time around and then it goes over it 3 more times not cutting anything. then moves to the next z pass and cuts on first time around and then 3 dead passes. and so on all through the part. the part is 4 1/2" tall and im taking 0.050" passes and it is taking 4 passes for every 0.050" deep. so it takes a lot of machine time for nothing. so the question is am I doing something wrong with the roughing or it that a bug? if I put in 3 tool paths and cheat and change stock to leave for each pass I save over 3 hours and it only takes 1 pass on each z cut depth. any help would be very helpful for the next time I need this tool path. for now I cheated and the part is running but I would like to make it 2 tool paths instead of 6.

[Delcandoit]

I have used the "Trim to Stock" option when roughing using a 5 axis toolpath. It forced the rough passes to only cut where there was material and avoid air cutting. It takes longer to process but it works well.

[?Mark]

You can simply copy the toolpath and adjust the stock to leave. A lot more control this way all around.

You can also use rest roughing with port expert.

hth

 

My bad, I just realized you're using port 5-axis, not port expert.